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E63 / E64 6 Series (2004 - 2010) The E63/E64 BMW 6 Series builds on BMW's sporty heritage with aggressive lines and an incredible motor to back the design up. Available in coupe and convertible trims with a standard 4.8 liter engine producing 360 horsepower and 360 lb-ft of torque, the 6-series is a popular choice that exceeds expectations.

I am a big proponent of oil analysis. I am an even bigger proponent of changing my oil every 5K miles in my piston engine vehicles and every 3K miles in my rotary (a 1994 Mazda RX-7, 1.3 liter, twin turbo dyno tuned @ 288hp. That is another story and in another forum.) I religiously changed the oil in my E39 (540i) every 5K miles and regularly had my oil analyzed in all my vehicles so that I knew what was going on inside the engine. I have always sent my oil to Blackstone Laboratories for oil analysis. It costs $25 for a standard test and in my experience they have a one business day turnaround from when they receive the report. Check out their website for more details and to get your free sample kit. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/.

Recently, I sold my 1999 E39 with 98K miles on it and with a sterling oil analysis history to purchase my driveable dream, an off lease CPO 2010 E63 with 42K miles. My E63 was placed in service in N.J. and I live in FL. When I purchased the E63, I had my dealer print out my car's service records. I think it is safe to assume that your typical leaseholder only has the dealer service the vehicle at its regular service intervals and no more and which is the assumption I am taking for my car. The good news was that all required service was timely performed and there was nothing remarkable about this history in and of itself. However, I was not too thrilled that, although changed every 15k miles, its oil had only been changed twice in its 42K mile life. If I had purchased this car new, it would have been changed at least 8 times by now. Anyway, my first agenda item was changing the oil since the oil was last changed over 12K miles ago. I took my car to my Indy and had him give the car a once over. He remarked about the evidence of very mild corrosion on parts that normally don't see corrosion here in Florida. Nothing that I already did not know and am currently handling. As for the oil change, he said it was very black and that it really needed an oil change.

My Indy collected an oil sample and I shipped it off for analysis ($6 via FedEx ground.) Yesterday, my attached baseline report arrived. Open my report then click on the following link for an explanation how to read your report, http://www.blackstone-labs.com/report-explanation.php, and select "gas/diesel report." Float your curser over the colored items on the explanation for details. My report shows higher than normal metal content based against universal averages which in my case are indicative of piston, ring and bearing wear. I am optimistic that my shorter 5K oil change intervals will bring down the high values, which are not too alarming, and I will report back with my next few oil reports. Interestingly enough, my E39 (owned since new) had a much better report than my E63 based upon similar universal averages. I know, apples and oranges…..

I changed my oil with Motul X-cess 5w/40 as that is what I ran in my E39. I am interested in seeing other oil analysis from those who have changed their oil at factory intervals as well as, say, every 5K, 7.5K or 10K miles. I am also interested in what oil you are using. As for my car, I have no idea how hard it was driven and the conditions under which it was driven, all of which are factors in the report results as is the type of oil used. I am still shaking my head in disbelief that BMW's recommended oil change interval is every 15K miles. Perhaps I am "old school" and "waste" oil with my 5K mile oil change interval. At least it is a good thing my car is a CPO and has a 100K mile warranty. Please post your results. I want to see how this thread develops.

Seriously, I love those and I can't wait to see how this one develops. The beauty of having three different body style BMW's and one MINI in the garage is that you get to read the same type of discussions four times over and truly get the full spectrum.

FWIW and on topic, I tend to do in between oil changes on all my cars. For the gassers, that means 7,500 miles and the X5 diesel it's going to be about 5,500 miles since the oil service interval is 11,000 miles on that motor. The 330cic is the garage queen so that translates from 3,000 to 5,000 miles depending on how much it gets driven in the one year period. I have had BMW's for almost 20 years and can remember cars that could not have fluids and filters changed often enough so I still change fluids that are deemed to be lifetime by BMW.

I have never had oil analysis done because I figure there is not much more I can do to prolong the life of the engine besides using good products and having reasonable service intervals for all fluids and filters. That being said, this thread and another similar one on the diesel forum have me thinking about collecting oil samples. I don't think it will change my service routine, but it may prove interesting.

Here is the link to the diesel forum thread I was referring to. One member is going to go the full BMW recommended interval and is taking samples every so often and then posting the blackstone lab results. Interesting method to determine the correct longevity of the oil...

I've been using Mobil 1 0w40, which is LL01 certified for BMW engines in my e46 330i and for the first oil change since I bought my CPO e63. I've never run an oil analysis, but religiously changed oil every 7500 miles since new on my 330. Intend to do the same with the 6er.

I am a big proponent of oil analysis. I am an even bigger proponent of changing my oil every 5K miles in my piston engine vehicles and every 3K miles in my rotary (a 1994 Mazda RX-7, 1.3 liter, twin turbo dyno tuned @ 288hp. That is another story and in another forum.) I religiously changed the oil in my E39 (540i) every 5K miles and regularly had my oil analyzed in all my vehicles so that I knew what was going on inside the engine. I have always sent my oil to Blackstone Laboratories for oil analysis. It costs $25 for a standard test and in my experience they have a one business day turnaround from when they receive the report. Check out their website for more details and to get your free sample kit. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/.

Recently, I sold my 1999 E39 with 98K miles on it and with a sterling oil analysis history to purchase my driveable dream, an off lease CPO 2010 E63 with 42K miles. My E63 was placed in service in N.J. and I live in FL. When I purchased the E63, I had my dealer print out my car's service records. I think it is safe to assume that your typical leaseholder only has the dealer service the vehicle at its regular service intervals and no more and which is the assumption I am taking for my car. The good news was that all required service was timely performed and there was nothing remarkable about this history in and of itself. However, I was not too thrilled that, although changed every 15k miles, its oil had only been changed twice in its 42K mile life. If I had purchased this car new, it would have been changed at least 8 times by now. Anyway, my first agenda item was changing the oil since the oil was last changed over 12K miles ago. I took my car to my Indy and had him give the car a once over. He remarked about the evidence of very mild corrosion on parts that normally don't see corrosion here in Florida. Nothing that I already did not know and am currently handling. As for the oil change, he said it was very black and that it really needed an oil change.

My Indy collected an oil sample and I shipped it off for analysis ($6 via FedEx ground.) Yesterday, my attached baseline report arrived. Open my report then click on the following link for an explanation how to read your report, http://www.blackstone-labs.com/report-explanation.php, and select "gas/diesel report." Float your curser over the colored items on the explanation for details. My report shows higher than normal metal content based against universal averages which in my case are indicative of piston, ring and bearing wear. I am optimistic that my shorter 5K oil change intervals will bring down the high values, which are not too alarming, and I will report back with my next few oil reports. Interestingly enough, my E39 (owned since new) had a much better report than my E63 based upon similar universal averages. I know, apples and oranges…..

I changed my oil with Motul X-cess 5w/40 as that is what I ran in my E39. I am interested in seeing other oil analysis from those who have changed their oil at factory intervals as well as, say, every 5K, 7.5K or 10K miles. I am also interested in what oil you are using. As for my car, I have no idea how hard it was driven and the conditions under which it was driven, all of which are factors in the report results as is the type of oil used. I am still shaking my head in disbelief that BMW's recommended oil change interval is every 15K miles. Perhaps I am "old school" and "waste" oil with my 5K mile oil change interval. At least it is a good thing my car is a CPO and has a 100K mile warranty. Please post your results. I want to see how this thread develops.

In reading your oil analysis report, I noticed several things. I suspect that your Indy most likely took the sample from the drain plug area, which would skew the results. Taking results from the drain plug area would show higher than normal metal, brass, copper, & other contaminants. The sample should be taken from the oil level stick, if your engine has one. The sample should be taken after the oil has come up to operating temp. If you have copies of your old oil results on your previous cars with the same type of oil, compare them to the results that you have posted. The sample that was summited is based on several things that would be filled out on the report info section. If your engine was using the Castrol Syntec 5w/40 oil, I doubt that it would contain that much moly in the oil. This makes me think that some type of moly based oil such as Royal Purple, has been run in this engine. Oil with moly would look very black with 12k miles on it. Other than the few high metal counts, I would not be to worried at this point. The only other thing that looked strange to me is the Boron count. Boron is normally only used in gear type applications, to reduce wear. The silicon count is fairly low, suggesting the oil in the engine is fairly clean.

Automotive oil sample facilities normally run 10 to 20k oil samples each day. The reports are run by the assumption of the correct oil type is submitted correctly. Each oil manufacturer submits the additive makeup of their oil, to be used as a comparison. If the wrong oil type is submitted on the form, the additive makeup will be different. Computers are used to process the reports as the samples are run. I have seen way to many oil samples come back with erroneous data, do to human error. I have visited at least 4 labs in the southern states, & have had many problems with all of them. After reviewing over 20k sample reports, I always had the oil manufacturers additive & chemical makeup to compare against the sample. You would be surprised how many bad sample reports I have seen. I would suggest to always take your own oil sample, from the same place, & the same way each time. This is the only way to compare apples, to apples. You might be able to get the oil company of your choice, to give you the additive levels to expect in their oil. They will be reluctant to give you to much info, fearing they might be their competitor.

Sorry for the long rant, but hope this might help what could screw up oil sample reports.

You should at least consider 7500 mile changes. It's only another 80.00 a year! The only person benefitting from a 15k mile is BMW. The wear rate on the engine parts start to fail much sooner at a 15k mile oil change!

One thing that shocked me that was missing from the oil sample report was TBN & TAN numbers were missing?

HerbP, your points are well taken. When I submitted my sample to Blackstone, I did not know what oil was used for my last oil change and I let them know that. I simply assumed it was Castrol. Yes, my Indy took a drain plug sample. It was not taken at operating temp as the car had been sitting for an hour but I would have to guess it was at least 170F . However, he took all the samples for my E39 from the drain plug and, presumably, during a mid-drain as I requested. I too was thinking that perhaps the oil sample may have gotten contaminated and hence the results. I plan on changing the oil in 3500 miles. My theory is that this low mileage change will offer a good oil system “flush.” I will then change it in another 3500 miles thinking that the residual oil from my first oil change (the 12K+ oil) will be cleared out. Then I will resort to 5K mile oil changes. I am contemplating taking two samples for my next oil change, one from the dipstick and one from the drain plug pour to see if the results are any different. Overkill? Probably so, but interesting nonetheless. At least for my next oil analysis, I will know exactly what type of oil was in my car. Because you asked, attached is the oil analysis from my E39. Although the column is blank, I had 90,358 miles on my car for its last analysis. Note that I did not get an analysis with every oil change but did so just about every other oil change from when I started analyzing my oil. As for TBN & TAN, I did not have them performed (at extra cost).

You should at least consider 7500 mile changes. It's only another 80.00 a year! The only person benefitting from a 15k mile is BMW. The wear rate on the engine parts start to fail much sooner at a 15k mile oil change!

I hear you, I just have never put this much thought into oil changes...

Seriously though, this is like a Masters class in oil attributes, I am just a GED student.

HerbP, your points are well taken. When I submitted my sample to Blackstone, I did not know what oil was used for my last oil change and I let them know that. I simply assumed it was Castrol. Yes, my Indy took a drain plug sample. It was not taken at operating temp as the car had been sitting for an hour but I would have to guess it was at least 170F . However, he took all the samples for my E39 from the drain plug and, presumably, during a mid-drain as I requested. I too was thinking that perhaps the oil sample may have gotten contaminated and hence the results. I plan on changing the oil in 3500 miles. My theory is that this low mileage change will offer a good oil system “flush.” I will then change it in another 3500 miles thinking that the residual oil from my first oil change (the 12K+ oil) will be cleared out. Then I will resort to 5K mile oil changes. I am contemplating taking two samples for my next oil change, one from the dipstick and one from the drain plug pour to see if the results are any different. Overkill? Probably so, but interesting nonetheless. At least for my next oil analysis, I will know exactly what type of oil was in my car. Because you asked, attached is the oil analysis from my E39. Although the column is blank, I had 90,358 miles on my car for its last analysis. Note that I did not get an analysis with every oil change but did so just about every other oil change from when I started analyzing my oil. As for TBN & TAN, I did not have them performed (at extra cost).

If you look at the results you attached on this report, notice the moly is almost less than 5 ppm. Looking at your new car sample, the moly is 140 ppm. Notice they company did not alert you, because it does not exceed their standards. If you review your wear metals on your older car ( calcium & magnesium ) the numbers have changed for some reason? I would suspect that a different type of oil was added somewhere, possibly by the person that changes your oil. The sample reports indicate suspected internal components that might fail, but do not questions on why your chemical makeup has changed. This is why I suggest that you are taking oil samples, do not trust the oil labs to indicate minor, or major problems.

Next time you send your samples off, take 1 sample and place your new oil in it. Make sure the sample is marked with the correct oil type. Use this sample as a baseline for all of your future oil samples. This will help you compare what is changing in your engine, & if someone is installing a different oil that you are paying for. For the best sampling collection on our BMW N62 engine, install a test valve on the bottom of the oil filter. Take the sample with the engine running, so that the oil will indicate the most consistent results. I would also suggest that you take your own samples, so that you know how the are taken every time. If you are going to pay good money for an oil sample, make sure it is done the same way every time. I would suggest contacting your lab, & ask for a sample test kit, with a siphon pump & tube. You can then collect the oil sample thru the dipstick tube. This might be an easier option for you. Oil samples are only as good as the person that takes them. After reviewing samples taken by different people at the same place taken different ways, the results can be totally different.

I will never trust anyone to change my oil in any of my vehicles, because I do not trust oil change shops that use different oil that you are paying for. It does happen quite often!

This is my first "short cycle" oil change as I indicated I would do from my initial post. I took this sample through the dipstick with 46,508 miles on my car. As you can see, metals and other particulates are significantly reduced. I attribute that to both the low mileage sample and my through the dipstick sample. I had a suspicion that for my first oil change my indy did not collect as clean a sample as I would have. I will take my next and last "short cycle" sample in 3500 miles, when my car reaches 50K miles, and then I will change my oil at 5K mile intervals. I am interested in comparing this short cycle oil change with the next one and then see how they compare to my 5K oil change intervals. Although the report reflects that I used Amsoil, I actually used Motul.

The report looks better than before, but there is a change in oil brands I suspect? The Moly levels have been drastically reduced, indicating a different oil such as Royal Purple I suspect. I do not know the make up of the Motul product, but something is different? I would just compare your next samples against this one, & see if things stay the same. The dip stick tube method is a good way to take the sample, but do not push the line to the bottom of the pan. The engine should also be run, to give a representative sample.

The very first oil analysis was probably Castrol. My first oil change and the sample for the recent test results is Motul. I ran Motul for years in my 1999 E39 540. Attached is that car's oil analysis. I realize the two different engines are "apples and oranges," but it makes for an interesting comparison. As for the dip stick sample, I assume your reference to the "don't push the tube to the bottom of the pan" is it avoid drawing into the sample sediment/particulates that could accumulate at the bottom of the oil pan. I did gently push the tube to the bottom of the oil pan but backed it out a few inches to withdraw my sample which I took while the engine was hot and the oil was at operating temperature. I am looking forward to seeing how my oil samples progress over the next few years. I hope others will post their results in this thread as well.

I would ask the lab to correct the oil type, & possibly match the result with the Castrol product that you might have used? I was not aware that Castrol might use that amount of Moly in their oil, but some type of oil additive might have been added at some point? Pulling the tube off the bottom, will reduce any contact with any possible buildup. You could measure the tube, & mark the spot it hits the bottom for future use. New tube should be used for each sample, to be on the safe side.

Had the first report run on the 650i.
History is I purchased the car with 13k miles on it in 2009. Records show it had its first oil change done at one year / 9k miles. I changed it at 15k miles and have been using a roughly 7,500 mile interval since that works out to about one year's worth of miles on this car (not my daily driver...)
Report came back all good, so good peace of mind and I'll keep doing what I'm doing on this one. I switched back to BMW Castrol instead of LiquiMoly for ordering convenience this time around. Next report about this time next year.

FredoinSF, nice solid report. Our engines have nearly identical mileage. My most recent report has a higher metal content which I attribute to my having performed my car's third oil change in its life when I purchased it this past September. My recent report is the first of my two low mileage (3,500 miles) oil changes the basis for which was to flush the 12K+ mileage oil in my car when purchased. I hope to see a further drop in metal content for my next oil change although I suspect my first low mileage oil change probably effectively flushed the system. Keep reporting as I will.

Attached is my (historical) oil analysis for the last of my "system flush" oil changes. I put 3,703 miles on this oil change with my car turning 50K miles. I drew hot oil through the dipstick without letting the dipstick hit the oil pan. As you can see from my results, my theory seems to hold true that I have done a good job flushing my oil system to bring my numbers back in line with the universal averages. This report is pretty solid with similar results to FredoinSF's which had ~7K less mileage than my car has now although he had a longer run on his oil than is on mine. I will now change my oil every 5K miles and might, as HerbP suggests, consider 7.5K mile changes. It would be helpful to see more results from others. Also, I could not resist taking a photograph of my daily driver and my garage queen after a day of working on them in my garage...